World Cup, soccer and world power

Another reason soccer is a fascinating sport: Ghana eliminated US, compare the statistics between both countries:

	Ghana	US
GDP:	U$2,100	U$ 37,600
Population(in millions):	20.47	290.34
Average Age (in years):	19.8	35.8
Life expectancy at birth (in years):	56.53	77.14
Number of Internet users (in 2002):	200,000	165.75 million

It is in the playing field that things get leverage...
Although all the efforts from US to make it a big business, you just need people to play soccer (you can always make a ball with old newspaper and a old sock...).

1982 and the Brazilian Beautiful Game

In the period of World Cup, although not an expert (who is anyway? everybody seems to have an opinion about soccer without being 100% correct or 100% wrong - which is why this is a fascinating subject), I will try to express some of my amateur opinions.
IMHO, the Brazilian team of 1982 is unforgettable (Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Eder, etc...) so far it was the best Brazilian team I have seen playing (I did not see the teams before 1970). But it did not win the Cup.
Here in USA, all the broadcasters anounce that Brazil is famous for its Beautiful Game. I am always tempted to say: there is not a thing such as "Beautiful Game" (at least the way that the Brazilian team plays) and it is gone after 1982 (and 1986). The nail in coffin was the Brazilian team of 1994 (the one which was coached by the same Parreira), the victory of 1994 team was the victory of the pragmatic game or the European style of soccer, more physical than skillful, more gear towards the score than how to score.
It has been like that since then. "It did not play that well but i won" - that is the philosophy of the Brazilian soccer now where most of the players play in Europe where they are used to that kind of game.
Ronaldo is one of the example of this, now he plays to score. It seems that he lost the happiness to drible, to conquer the defense, to humiliate the rivals and the goalkeeper. He scores only.
Ronaldinho and Robinho are the only exception in the Brazilian team. Probably the only hope for the "Beautiful Game".